Department of Organic and Nuclear Chemistry
Faculty of Science
CHARLES UNIVERSITY

Welcome to WEB-pages of Martin Kotora and his group.

Phenomenon of catalysis was described for the first time by
Berzelius, who wrote:

"...This new power, hitherto unknown is common both organic and
inorganic nature ...
I shall ...call it catalytic power."

Berzelius
Edin. New. Phil. Jrnl.XXI
, 223.

Today catalysis, especially the one using transition metal
compounds, arms chemists with a unique tool that allows
to bring about complex transformations of molecules under mild
reaction conditions. These fascinating opportunities
provide major impetus for our interests in exploratory research
in catalysis and its application in organic synthesis.

Our main research interests are directed toward:

Development of new transition metal-catalyzed reactions.

Application of transition- and main-group metal based methodology
in organic synthesis (synthesis of substances of potential
medicinal interest such virostatics, steroids, cytostatics, etc.

Synthesis of new organocatalysts and
their application in enantioselective synthesis.

Dewar benzene and ferrocene chemistry.

(A part of our group is located at the Institute
of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, v.v.i., Academy of Science
of the Czech Republic.)